King Olaf stood on the poop deck of the Long Serpent, a conspicuous
figure among his fighting men, with his gold wrought helm towering high
above the others' heads. From this position he could survey the
movements of his foes, command the actions of his own shipmen, and
direct the defence. From this place also he could fire his arrows and
fling his spears over the heads of his Norsemen. His quivers were
filled with picked arrows, and he had near him many racks of javelins.
The larger number of his chosen chiefs--as Kolbiorn Stallare, Thorfinn
the Dashing, Ketil the Tall, and Thorstein Oxfoot--had their stations
forward on the forecastle deck or in the "close quarters" nearer the
prow. These stood ready with their spears and swords to resist
boarders, and they were protected by the shield men, who were ranged
before them at the bulwarks with their shields locked together. At
various points of vantage groups of archers had been placed, the best
marksmen being stationed before the mast, where no rigging or cordage
would mar their aim. At this part stood Einar Eindridson throughout the
whole battle. Loud and shrill sounded the war horns from both sides.
Nearer and nearer King Sweyn of Denmark drew onward to the attack. The
wind had fallen, the sea was calm; the sun hung hot and glaring in a
cloudless sky, flashing on burnished helmet and gilded dragon head.
King Olaf's prows were pointed towards the north, so that the enemy as
they came down upon him had the strong midday sunlight in their eyes.
King Sweyn Fork Beard opened his attack with a shower of arrows
directed at the stem defenders of the Long Serpent. King Olaf's archers
at once replied in like manner. This exchange of arrows was continued
without ceasing while Sweyn's ships came onward at their fullest speed.
Then, as the Danes drew yet closer under the Norsemen's prows, arrows
gave place to javelins and spears, which were hurled with unerring aim
from side to side.
Sweyn's men turned their stems towards both bows of the Long Serpent,
as she stood much further forward than any others of Olaf's ships. Many
who could not approach this coveted position turned their attention to
the Short Serpent and the Crane. And now the battle raged fiercely. Yet
the Norsemen stood firm as a wall of rock, while the Danes, assailed by
a heavy rain of spears and arrows from the Serpent's decks, began to
lose heart ere ever a man of them was able to make his way through the
close bulwark of shields. Olaf's prows were so lofty that they could
not be scaled, while the defenders, from their higher stand, had full
command over their foes. Thrand Squint Eye and Ogmund Sandy were the
first of the Norsemen to fall. These two leapt down upon the deck of
King Sweyn's dragon, where, after a tough hand to hand fight, in which
they vanquished nine of the Dane King's foremost warriors, they were
slain. Kolbiorn Stallare was very angry at these two having broken the
ranks, and he gave the order that none of the Norsemen were to attempt
to board the enemy's ships without express command.
Sweyn's ship lay under the larboard bow of the Serpent, and Wolf the
Red had thrown out grappling hooks, holding her there. She was a
longship, of twenty banks of oars, and her crew were the pick of all
the warmen of Denmark. Sharp and fierce was the fight at this side, and
great was the carnage. While Kolbiorn and others of Olaf's stem
defenders kept up an incessant battle with their javelins and swords,
King Olaf and his archers shot their arrows high in air so that they
fell in thick rain upon the Danish decks. Yet the Danes, and the Swedes
from the rear, were not slow to retaliate. Although they found it
impossible to board the Serpent, they nevertheless could assail her
crowded decks with arrows and well aimed spears, and the Norsemen fell
in great numbers. In the meantime Sweyn's other ships--not one of which
was larger than the smallest of King Olaf's eleven dragons--made a
vigorous onset upon Olaf's left and right wings. The Norsemen fought
with brave determination, and as one after another of the Dane ships
was cleared of men it was drawn off to the rear, and its place was
occupied by yet another ship, whose warriors, fresh and eager, renewed
the onset. All along Olaf's line there was not one clear space, not a
yard's breadth of bulwark unoccupied by fighting men. The air was
filled with flying arrows and flashing spears and waving swords. The
clang of the weapons upon the metal shields, the dull thud of blows,
the wild shouts of the warriors and cries of the wounded, mingled
together in a loud vibrating murmur. To Earl Sigvaldi, who lay with his
ships apart at the far end of the bay, it sounded like the humming of
bees about a hive. Not only at the prows, but also behind at the sterns
of Olaf's compact host, did the Danes attempt to board. The Norsemen,
indeed, were completely surrounded by their foemen. King Olaf fought
from the poop deck of the Serpent with no less vigour than did Kolbiorn
and his stem defenders at the prow. He assailed each ship as it
approached with showers of well directed arrows. Then, as the stem of
one of the Danish longships crashed into his vessel's stern, he dropped
his longbow and caught up his spears, one in either hand, and hurled
them into the midst of his clamouring foes. Time after time he called
to his followers, and led them with a fierce rush down upon the enemy's
decks, sweeping all before him. Seven of King Sweyn's vessels did he
thus clear; and at last no more came, and for a time he had rest. But a
great cry from the Serpent's forecastle warned him that his stem men
were having a hard struggle. So he gathered his men together and led
them forward. Many were armed with battleaxes, others with spears, and
all with swords. Calling to his shield bearers to make way for him, he
pressed through the gap and leapt down upon the deck of Sweyn
Forkbeard's dragon.
"Onward, Christ men, Cross men!" he cried as full three score of his
bravest warriors followed close at his back. And he cut his way through
the crowd of Danes, who, led by Sweyn himself, had been making a final
rally and preparing to board the Serpent. King Sweyn was wounded in the
right arm by a blow from Kolbiorn's sword. Kolbiorn was about to repeat
the blow when several of the Danes, retreating aft, crowded between him
and their king. Sweyn drew back, and crying aloud to his men to follow
him, turned tail and led them over the bulwarks on to the deck of a
ship that was alongside of him. This ship, which had not yet been
secured by the Norsemen's grappling irons, he now withdrew to the
farther shores of the bay. As he thus retreated from the battle he
sounded his horns, calling off those of his ships that were not yet
altogether vanquished. Tired, wounded, and despairing, he owned himself
no match for Olaf the Glorious. He had made the attack with five and
forty fully manned warships, and yet all this great force had been as
nothing against the superior skill and courage of the defenders. Thus
it befell, as Olaf Triggvison had guessed, that the Danes did not gain
a victory over the Norsemen. While the Danes were in full retreat the
Swedes hastened forward to renew the attack. The Swedish king,
believing that Olaf Triggvison must certainly have suffered terrible
loss at the hands of the Danes, had the fullest hope that he would take
very little time in turning the defeat of King Sweyn into a victory for
himself. He had already, from a distance, kept up an intermittent fire
of arrows into the midst of the Norse ships, and it may be that he had
thus helped to reduce King Olaf's strength. He now rowed proudly upon
the left wing of the Norse fleet. Here he divided his own forces,
sending one division to an attack upon Olaf's prows, and himself rowing
round to the rear. Many of the disabled Dane ships barred his way, but
he at last brought his own longship under the poop of the Long Serpent.
This interval had given the Norsemen a brief respite in which to clear
their disordered decks and refresh themselves with welcome draughts of
cooling water which their chief ordered to be served round.
Vain were the Swede king's hopes. When he advanced upon the Serpent
Olaf Triggvison was ready to meet him, refreshed by his brief rest,
unwounded still, and with his warlike spirit burning eager within him.
"Let us not lose courage at the sight of these heathen devourers of
horse flesh!" he cried as he rallied his men. "Onward, my brave
Christians! It is for Christ's faith that we fight today. Christ's
cross against Thor's hammer! Christian against pagan!"
Then, when the anchors and grappling hooks were fastened upon the Swede
king's ship, Olaf hastened to the rail and assailed her men first with
javelin and long spear, and then with sword. So high was the Serpent's
poop above the other's stem that the Norsemen had to bring their
weapons to bear right down below the level of their sandalled feet, and
whenever the Swedish soldiers, emboldened by seeing an occasional gap
in King Olaf's ranks, tried to climb on board, they were hewn down or
thrown back into the sea.
At last Olaf of Sweden came forward with a strong body of swordsmen and
axemen, intent upon being the first of the three hostile princes to
plant his foot on the deck of the Long Serpent. Olaf Triggvison saw him
approaching, and again calling his Norsemen to follow him, he leapt
over the rail and landed on the enemy's deck. The son of Queen Sigrid
stood still on his forecastle. His face suddenly blanched, but he
gripped his sword, ready to encounter Norway's king. Here the two Olafs
met and crossed swords, and a desperate duel ensued. Scarcely had they
made half a dozen passes when Olaf Triggvison, with a quick movement of
his wrist, struck his opponent's sword from his grasp and it fell on
the deck.
"Too bold is Queen Sigrid's son," cried Olaf, "if he thinks to board
the Long Serpent. Now have I got you in my power and might put an end
to you and your worship of heathen idols. But never shall it be said
that Olaf Triggvison struck down a foe who was unarmed. Pick up your
blade, proud King of the Swedes, and let us see who is the better man,
you or I."
So when Swedish Olaf stood again on guard, the two crossed swords once
more.
"Now will I avenge the insult you offered my mother!" cried Olaf
Sigridson, "and you who struck her on the cheek with your glove shall
be struck dead with a weapon of well tempered steel instead of foxskin."
"Guard well your head," returned Triggvison, "lest I knock off your
helmet. The man who taught you the use of the sword might have been
better employed, for in truth he has taught you very little."
"He has taught me enough to enable me to slay such a man as you!" cried
the Swede, gathering his strength for a mighty blow.
"That remains to be proved," retorted Olaf Triggvison. "Wait! you have
got the wrong foot foremost!"
But without heeding, the Swede king brought down his sword with a great
sweep, aiming at Olaf Triggvison's head. As with a lightning flash Olaf
raised his sword to meet the blow. His opponent's blade was broken in
two halves, while at the same moment he fell severely wounded upon the
deck.
"Swedish sword blades are good," said Olaf Triggvison, "but the swords
of the Norsemen are better."
He thought that he had made an end of the King of Sweden. But some of
the Swedish soldiers who had been watching the duel rushed forward,
and, raising their fallen king, carried him off on board another of his
ships, while Olaf Triggvison went aft along the crowded decks, and men
fell beneath his blows, as the ripe grain falls before the mower's
scythe. It happened to the Swedes, as to the Danes, that
notwithstanding their superior numbers they found that they were ill
matched in skill and prowess with the Norsemen. Their picked champions
were speedily killed or wounded, their best ships were disabled, and
although they had indeed reduced Olaf Triggvison's forces by about
half, yet they had not succeeded in boarding any one of his ships, much
less in carrying any of them off as prizes. As King Sweyn had
retreated, so did King Olaf of Sweden. His ships were called off from
the combat and withdrawn out of range of the Norsemen's arrows. He had
won no fame by his daring attack, but only ignominious defeat, and he
was fain to escape alive, albeit very badly wounded.
Thus Olaf Triggvison had made both the Danes and the Swedes take to
flight, and it had all befallen as he had said.
And now it must be told how Earl Erik Hakonson fared in that fight.
True to the agreement which he and the two allied kings had come to
over their dice throwing on the morning of that same fateful day, he
had stood apart from the battle while Sweyn had vainly striven to make
a prize of the Long Serpent; and during the midday and until the
retreat of King Sweyn he had engaged no more in the conflict than to
direct his arrows from afar into the thick of Olaf Triggvison's host.
Now, Earl Erik was wise in warfare, and a man of keen judgment. He had
fought with his father in the great battle against Sigvaldi and the
vikings of Jomsburg, and from what he had seen on that day of Olaf
Triggvison's prowess, and from what he had since heard of Olaf's
warfare in England and other lands, he had made a very true estimate of
the man who now fought in defence of the Long Serpent. He had also seen
Sweyn Forkbeard in the thick of battle, and Olaf of Sweden no less. He
was, therefore, well able to judge that neither the king of the Danes
nor the king of the Swedes was capable of overcoming so brave and
mighty a warrior as the king of the Norsemen, or of wresting the Long
Serpent from the man who had built her and who knew so well how to
defend his own. Pride in his own countryman may have had some share in
the forming of this opinion. But Earl Erik had fought against the men
of every land in Scandinavia. He had a firm belief that the men of
Norway were braver and bolder, stronger in body, more skilful in the
use of their weapons, and had greater powers of endurance than any of
their neighbours. And it may be that in this he was right. He at least
saw cause for thinking that the only men who could succeed in
vanquishing King Olaf's Norsemen were the Norsemen of Earl Erik
Hakonson. Earl Erik's vikings and berserks, eagerly watching the fray,
had seen how the Danish ships had one after another been driven off,
disabled and defeated. They had watched every movement of the tall and
splendid form of the Norse king as he fought in his shining armour and
his bright red tunic on the Serpent's lypting. For a time they had not
been certain whether Olaf Triggvison was at the stem or on the poop of
his great dragonship, for it was seen that at each of these important
points there was a tall chief whose prowess and whose attire alike
distinguished him from all other men; and these two champions so
resembled one the other that it was not easy to tell which was Kolbiorn
Stallare and which King Olaf. But Earl Erik had not a moment's doubt.
He would have known Olaf Triggvison had a score of such men as Kolbiorn
been at his side. Earl Erik was the eldest son of the evil Earl Hakon
who had fled from Thrandheim at the time of Olaf's coming into Norway,
and been slain while taking refuge at the farmstead of Rimul, and Erik
had naturally hoped that on his father's death he would succeed to the
throne. Olaf Triggvison had shattered all his plans of future glory;
and during the five years that had already passed of King Olaf's reign
he thirsted for such an opportunity as now presented itself, not only
of avenging his father's death but also, it might be, of placing
himself upon the throne of Norway. His only uneasiness at the present
moment arose from his fear lest King Olaf should be overcome in the
battle ere he had himself encountered him face to face and hand to hand.
While the King of Sweden and his forces were engaged with their attack
upon Olaf's centre of battle, Earl Erik adopted a plan which, although
seemingly more hopeless, was in the end more successful than any that
had yet been attempted by either the Danes or the Swedes. He saw that
while the Long Serpent continued to be supported on either side by five
strong and well manned dragonships she was practically unassailable.
Her poop and her prow were the only points of her hull that were
exposed, and these towered so high above the bulwarks of all other
vessels that to attempt to board her was both useless and dangerous.
Herein lay the secret of Olaf's successful defence, the proof of his
forethought and wisdom in building the Serpent so much larger and
higher than all other vessels in his fleet. Earl Erik, indeed, had
observed that every ship that had approached her, either fore or aft,
had been in its turn completely cleared of men or forced to withdraw
out of the conflict.
Urging his rowers to their fullest speed, Erik bore down with his ships
upon the extreme of King Olaf's right wing. The heavy, iron bound bow
of the Ram crashed into the broadside of Olaf's outermost longship,
whose timber creaked and groaned under the impact. Vikings and berserks
leapt down upon her decks, and now Norseman met Norseman in a terrible,
deadly combat. The king's men were well nigh exhausted with the long
day's fighting under the hot sun; their bronzed faces streamed with
perspiration, their limbs moved wearily. But, however, tired and
thirsty they were, they could give themselves no respite. Every man
that fell or was disabled by wounds left a gap in the ranks that could
not be filled. The earl's men were fresh and vigorous; they had waited
for hours for their chief's orders to enter the fray, and now that
those orders had been given to them they fought with hot fury, yelling
their battle cries and cutting down their foemen with ponderous axe and
keen edged sword.
So fierce was the onslaught that many of Olaf's men, for the first time
that day, fell back in fear and clambered over the bulwarks of the next
ship. Very soon the decks of the first longship were completely cleared
of defenders. Then Earl Erik backed out with the Iron Ram, while the
seamen on his other ships cut away the lashings that had bound Olaf's
outermost vessel to her neighbour, and drew the conquered craft away
into the rear, leaving the next ship exposed.
Again Earl Erik advanced with the Ram and crashed as before into the
exposed broadside of the outermost ship. As before, the vikings leapt
on board and renewed the onset. Five of the viking ships lay with their
high prows overshadowing the broadside bulwarks, and their men swarmed
and clamoured upon the decks from stem to stern, clearing all before
them. Again the lashings were cut and the conquered longship was
withdrawn.
Two of King Olaf's dragons had now been captured by Earl Erik. It was
not very long ere yet two others followed; and then the Short Serpent
was exposed, even as her four companions had been. At this juncture
Earl Erik paused, for he saw that Thorkel Nefja's decks were densely
crowded with men who had retreated from vessel to vessel before the
onslaught of the vikings. With the caution which long years of viking
work had taught him, the earl decided that the Short Serpent might best
be assailed by means of arrows, fired from a safe distance, until her
numbers had been sufficiently diminished to warrant his attacking her
at closer quarters. So he arrayed six of his ships near hand and set
his archers to work, and for a long while this method of assault was
continued.
There was no lack of arrows on the Short Serpent, or indeed, on any
other of King Olaf's battleships. But it was noticed by the earl's
vikings that the larger number of the shafts that were shot at them by
the defenders were of Danish or Swedish make, and by this it was judged
that the king's men were using the arrows that had been fired upon them
by their enemies.
Leaving his six ships where he had stationed them, Earl Erik now rowed
the Iron Ram round to the left wing of Olaf Triggvison's array. Four of
his best longships followed him. He passed astern of the king's fleet.
As he rowed by under the poop of the Long Serpent he saw the majestic
figure of the King of Norway, looking brilliant in gold and scarlet as
he stood in flood of the afternoon sunlight, sword in hand and shield
at breast. The eyes of the two bravest of Norse warriors met. Waving
his sword in mock salute, Earl Erik cried aloud:
"Short will be Olaf's shrift when Erik boards the Long Serpent!"
King Olaf saw that near to where Erik stood, on the Iron Ram's forward
deck, the image of the god Thor was raised, and he cried aloud in
answer:
"Never shall Erik board the Serpent while Thor dwells in his stem!"
"A wise soothsayer is the king," said Earl Erik to one of his warriors
as he passed onward astern of the Crane. "And I have been thinking,
ever since this battle began that the great luck of Olaf may be due to
that sign of the cross that we see on all his banners and shields.
Often have I felt a wish to turn Christian, for it seems to me that all
Christian men have something noble and honest about them--a greatness
which we heathens can never achieve. Now do I swear upon the hilt of my
sword"--he raised his sword hilt to his lips--"that if I win this
battle and take the Long Serpent for my prize I will straightway allow
myself to be christened. And, to begin with, I will have that image of
Thor thrown overboard into the sea. It is ill made and cumbrous, and a
figure of the cross will take less room in our stem and bring us more
luck withal."
So speaking, Earl Erik stepped forward and, gripping the idol in his
strong arms, flung it over the bulwark. Then he lashed two spars
together, a long plank crossed with a shorter one, and raised this
rough made crucifix high in the stem of the Iron Ram. By this time his
vessel had passed beyond the extreme of King Olaf's left wing. He bade
his rowers stop their rowing on the starboard side. They did so, and
the ship turned about. Then at fullest speed he bore down upon the
king's outermost dragon, crashed into her side and renewed his
onslaught.
Erik dealt with the left wing as he had done with the right, and one
after another of the four ships was cleared and unlashed. And now the
Long Serpent lay with only two companions, the Short Serpent at her
starboard and the Crane at her larboard side.
Already the Short Serpent was greatly crippled. Her commander, Thorkel
Nefja, had fallen, and the larger number of her men had retreated on
board of Olaf's ship, driven thither by the vikings of the six vessels
that were now ranged close against her. Earl Erik now made a vigorous
attack upon the Crane. He boarded her with a vast crowd of his vikings.
On the mid deck he encountered her captain, Thorkel the Wheedler, and
the two engaged in a sharp hand to hand fight. Regardless of his own
life, Thorkel fought with savage fury. He knew how much depended upon
his preventing Erik from boarding the king's ship. But he had already
received a severe wound from a javelin across the fingers of his right
hand, and he was full weary from the heat and long fighting. His
assailant speedily overcame him, and he fell, calling upon God to save
the king. As Thorkel had fought, so fought his men--desperately,
furiously, but yet weakly, and at last both the Crane and the Short
Serpent were cleared; their lashings were unfastened, they were
withdrawn to the rear, and King Olaf's great dragonship stood alone
among her foes.